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Zee’s drink was a blue cocktail, mine was a whole tumbler of whiskey that would probably knock me out if I downed it all, and Reynard’s highball glass appeared to be a Bloody Bitch, although its red color was a little pale.

I sipped my whiskey, Reynard took a gulp of his Bloody Bitch, and Zee sampled his cocktail.

“Just so we’re all clear,” Zee said, licking his lips. “Was that a no, to a finger up the ass?”

“Zodiac,” Reynard growled in his dark, chocolatey voice that reverberated through the table, the floor, and my whole body.

Zee grinned, propped his chin on his fist, and fluttered his lashes again. “Lay it on me, daddy. I can take whatever you’ll give.”

Reynard couldn’t see how Zee’s tail swished back and forth, so didn’t realize it was a sign of just how much his answer mattered, despite Zee’s bravado and innuendo.

They locked gazes—Reynard’s being dead straight and unblinking, while Zee’s was all warm and fuzzy and absolutely asking for trouble. Tension sizzled, or was it the wards?

Reynard wet his lips. “When you are serious about such propositions, you will have your answer. But I have little time for flippancy, since both your freedoms are in peril.”

Zee slow-blinked, acknowledged the comment with a slight dip of his chin, and sat back. Speechless.

Four weeks ago they’d been at each other’s throats. Today, Zee had just propositioned Reynard, and Reynard hadn’t said no. This was definitely progress.

“Right then,” I said, clearing the air. “So we’re all agreed on torture?”

With the sun having just set, we pulled up to the sidewalk on Union Street, elegantly lined with grand multimillion-dollar mansions. Streelights blinked on, and crickets chirped. The evening air smelled like baked grass and that uniquely salty twang from the ocean.

“Wow.” Each house was at least the size of the hotel, and old too, but well maintained, with neat driveways and perfect shrubs.

Zee hopped from the sedan and shook himself out. “You got a house like this, Fancy Fangs, or do you sleep in a coffin?” he asked Reynard.

Reynard sent his driver away, and replied. “All my assets were seized by Daisy and the royal family when Adam claimed me. Outside of Reynard Technologies, which I had the forethought to financially ring-fence, I have nothing.”

Zee’s silly grin died on his lips.

“Prior to that, what self-respecting vampire wouldn’t sleep in a coffin? They’re UV resistant, sound proof, and remarkably comfortable.”

Zee’s grin bloomed back to life. “Such a cliché.” He strode ahead, passing under shadowy trees, toward number 1459—Kris’s house.

I caught Reynard’s eye, and smiled. The big scary vampire baron had just saved Zee from feeling bad about his coffin joke. So much for Reynard not caring about him.

“You don’t sleep in a coffin, do you?” I whispered, hanging back.

“No.” Reynard’s little smile warmed his face. “A bed is perfectly adequate.”

“You know, it’s almost as though you like Zee?”

“Impossible.” Reynard’s smile lingered.

In the freezer, Zee had finally admitted to having feelings for Reynard. And then, back in the hotel bar, Reynard hadn’t shut down Zee’s finger-up-the-ass offer, but had instead left that door open to revisit in the future. Zee had helped save Reynard, and Reynard had helped save Zee. Really, their attraction was obvious. “You could tell him?”

“Regardless of my feelings, which I am still trying to untangle, to admit to caring for my enemy is a step I cannot yet take.” He walked on, shoes clipping the sidewalk. “In the past few weeks, I have lost almost everything that I believed made me who I am—my family, my position, almost my life. And all because I climbed the SOS Hotel steps with the ridiculous notion of gifting you to my queen.”

He'd always seemed so calm and put together, that I’d assumed he was fine. But none of us were fine. Not really. “That’s a lot to deal with.”

“Adding a relationship with a demon at this time is not something I can bear,” he said softly. “I fear my heart would not take any further possible rejection.”

Zee wouldn’t reject him, but it wasn’t my place to say it. This was something they had to work out between them. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. It can’t have been easy.”

“Please, do not apologize, Adam.” His strict tone eased, and the emotion he typically kept buried deep inside softened his gaze. “These events are my own doing, and so I must live with the consequences.”

“You’ll always have a home at the hotel, no matter what happens. It really is a sanctuary for all, regardless of me, or Zee, or any of that.”